Bridge-maneuvering apparatus.



K. ITO.

BRlDGE MANOEUVERING APPARAT US. APPUCATION FILED FEB. 1?, 1913.

1,150,941. PatentedAug. 24, 1915.

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K. ITO.

BRIDGE MANOEUVERING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 11. 1913.

1,150,941 Patented Aug. 24, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

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BRIDGE MANEUVERING" APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Au. 2%, 1915.

Application filed February 17, 1913. Sofia-1N0. 748,895.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, KUMEzo I'ro, of, No. 695 Oaza Noshima, AkiZuki-cho, A-sakuragun, Fukuoka-ken, Empire of. Japan, have invented certain new and useful, Improvements in Bridge-Maneuvering Apparatus, of which the following, is a, specification.

This invention relates to improvements in controlling apparatus for steam, engines and relates to the type wherein an electric motor placed alongside of the engine is caused to impart a vertically reciprocating motion to a vertical spindle by means of a screwthreaded shaft cooperating with a worm wheel, so as to cause the controlling, valves to be opened or closed.

One of the objects of this invention isto provide means whereby by loosening a screw, the apparatus may be operable from the engine room.

In order that this invention, may be clearly understood and more readily car ried into practice, reference may be hadv to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front part sectional view of my apparatus as applied to steam turbine; Fig. 2 is a plan thereof; 3 is a side elevation, viewed from the right of Fig. 1, of the device for indicating to the man in the engine room the opened and closed positions of the controlling valves. Fig. i is a diagrammatical view of an indicating device.

A indicates the controllin .-box of a steam.

turbine, alongside of whici is placed an electric motor B, which is reversible, having its shaft prolonged at one end so as to connect thereby with a worm 1, which engages with a suitable worm wheel 2, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The hub portion of the worm wheel 2, is likewise prolonged, and has a marginal projection or flange at its lower extremity. This shape of the hub en ables the worm wheel to rotate freely but prevents same from being vertically displaced, when supported in a bearing in the bracket 3, which is rigidly secured to and extends laterally from the valve box A.

Passing through the bracket 3, is a vertical spindle 4, the lower half of which spindle is threaded so as to engage with the internally threaded portion of the bore of the worm wheel, while the upper half is pro vided with a groove or key-way extending longitudinally of the spindle 4.

Loosely mounted, as for instance by in tercepting it between two collars, upon the vertical spindle and at the middle portion thereof, is a cross head 5, which is not ro tatable but is reciprocated by the spindle 4. This cross head 5 has a, laterally extending guide piece 0, which is provided with a sliding face in, the usual manner to engage with the corresponding face D, which, is formed upon and projects upwardly from the gear box as shown in Fig. 1..

The upper end portion of the guide arm 3, is bent toform, a neck portion. In the bore of this neck portion, is placed a metal bush, which I term. the chuck-brushing 6, which in turn, is adapted to receive in its bore, the hub ofthe-hand wheel 7 which is mounted upon the upper end of the spindle 4L. A key S fits tightly inside the hub of the said hand wheel and is adapted to engage with. the corresponding keyway in the spindle Although the rotation of the spindle 4 imparts rotary motion to the hand wheel,.this relative motion of, the latter, will be prevented, as soon as the set screw 9, which extends through the neck of the guide arm 3, is screwed up so as to force the chuck brushing 6 tightly against the hub of the hand wheel.

Pivotally secured to the lateral. edges of the cross head 5, is a depending link 19, the lower end of which link is suitably pivoted to. oneend of the horizontal lever 11, thus allowing vertical oscillatory motion of the latter around the support E (Fig. 2) as a fulcrum.

As the horizontal lever 11 is connected with both of the spindles for operating the go-ahead and the go-ast'ern valves, it will be observed that, so long as the horizontal lever remains in normal position, both of the valves will assume closed position, but as soon as "the vertical spindle 4 is elevated or depressed so as to cause the lever 11 to oscillate around the fulcrum E, an alternate opening and closing motion will then be given to the backing and forwarding valve spindles 12, 13, that is to say, when the backing valve is closed the forwarding valve will assume open position and vice versa.

In order to make known to the engineer below, the actual condition of the two valves, I provide any suitable indicating mechanism such as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. In this construction there is a graduated quadrant or segmental dial 17 which is mounted rigidly upon the supporting stem 3". An indicating hand 16 pivoted concentrically with the dial is mounted on one end of the lever 15, the other end of this lever '18 is connected with the lever 11 and is provided with a contact 19 which co-acts with the resistance 20. One end of this resistance is connected by means of a wire 21 with a solenoid coil 22, the oppom'te end of this coil being connected with the motor or source of electricity 23, the other end of the resistance 20 is connected by means of a wire 24 with a second solenoid coil 25, the opposite end of this solenoid coil also being connected with the motor. The other terminal of the motor is connected by means of a wire 26 and a sliding contact 27 with the rod 18 and contact 19. The solenoid core or rod is made up of brass portions 28 and iron portions 29, which are properly positioned so that the core will travel up and down in accordance with the movement of the contact 19, which throws more or less resistance into and out of circuit with the respective coils. The upper end of the rod 28 is connected to a pointer or hand 80 which co-acts with the dial 31. This solenoid and dial are preferably arranged on the bridge of the ship so that the captain may be advised as to the position of the valves.

Thus the captain on the bridge, upon his switching on and operating the controller handle (not shown), sets the motor in motion in order to cause either the go-ahead or the go-astern valve to be opened to the desired extent, the actual condition of which valve he will ascertain from the position of the hand of the indicator on the bridge. As soon as this desired indication is reached he then breaks the circuit and stops the motor so as to cause the engine to run with the speed conforming to this indication.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

A controlling apparatus for marine engines, comprising a shaft having a threaded portion, a correspondingly threaded worm wheel engaging with said threaded portion, a worm engaging with said worm wheel, a reversible motor for rotating said worm, a

cross head loosely mounted upon the shaft ing to the position of the shaft, a hand wheel splined to another portion of said shaft, a bearing for said hand wheel, and means for locking said hand wheel against rotation when it is desired to operate the valves by means of the motor, said hand wheel also serving to turn the slraft for operating said valves.

In testimony whereof I have set my hand this twenty-first day of January 1913.

KUMEZO ITO.

Witnesses GERIJI KURIBARA, HARMTADA YASAMA.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

